Samuel L. Jackson hits back at directors who criticize Marvel movies

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is the biggest thing to happen to movies in a very long time. Disney has taken these classic comic characters and turned them into full-blown cinematic icons, with every new movie taking in more money than the last. Now, everyone wants their own cinematic universe, for better or worse.

If you talk to people like Martin Scorsese, he’ll tell you it’s for worse. The legendary director of Goodfellas and The Wolf of Wall Street famously said that Marvel superhero movies were “not cinema,” instead comparing them to theme parks. “It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.”

The Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola went even further: “Martin was kind when he said it’s not cinema. He didn’t say it’s despicable, which I just say it is.”

Samuel L. Jackson: “[I]t’s easy for [directors] to dismiss [Marvel movies], only because people aren’t going to see their movie.”

Strong words! Are they right? Again, it depends on who you ask. Samuel L. Jackson, who has played Nick Fury in the MCU for over a decade now, has a very different take.

“Movies are movies,” Jackson recently said on The View. “Those are the movies that I went to see when I was a kid. And the artistry of making a movie is something that was a mystery for so long. Making movies is no longer a mystery. Kids know how to do it on their phones. So it’s easy for [directors] to dismiss it, only because people aren’t going to see their movie.”

"It’s like we’ve been dumbed down, but that’s always been the case. When we were younger, people went to see cowboy movies, and they went to see superhero movies of another ilk, they had superheroes on television. When you told a serious story, yeah, you find a niche audience — same thing still happens. People go to the movies to make themselves feel better and to get out of their daily existence…[P]eople go into the big, dark room to have a good time. It’s a shared good time. You laugh together and scream together. I still do movies that I would have gone to see when I was a kid."

Oh, that part about directors dismissing Marvel movies because no one is going to see their films…the shade! And it’s not exactly correct: for instance, Martin Scorsese’s film The Irishman did quite well on Netflix, although who knows how it would have done if it had gotten a wide theatrical release?

But nothing is doing even close to as well as Marvel movies right now, so that’s where the industry is focusing its energy. I’m always of two minds on this subject. It’s true that the Hollywood of today is very different from how it was back when Scorsese and Coppola were at their peak. There’s more of a focus on commercialization and commodification, with the MCU leading the charge.

At the same time, you can still make artistic films; in fact, with about 30,000 streaming services desperate for content, it’s easier to get funding than ever before. So yes, things have changed a lot since Coppola’s day, but there’s still a ton of good stuff out there, whether you’re looking for a popcorn flick or something deeper.

As for Jackson, he’ll return as Nick Fury in Secret Invasion, a new Disney+ series probably premiering late this year.

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h/t Variety